Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Japans aggression began when Roosevelt tried to help Britain fight Germany. He then started appying economic pressure. Japan back then, depended on the United States for many of its strategic materials. At that time, the U.S. supplied roughly 80% of Japan's oil. In July 1940 Congress gave the president the power to restrict the sale of those materials. He immediately took this chance to block the sale of airplane fuel and scrap iron to Japan. Furious, the Japanese signed an alliance with Germany and Italy, becoming a member of the Axis. In 1941 Roosevelt began sending lend-lease aid to China. Japan invaded China in 1937 and controlled much of the Chinese coast by 1941. He hoped that this would gain some of Chinas power back. After that plan failed, the Japanese sent military forces into southern Indochina, posng a direct threat to the Bitish Empire. Roosevelt made it clear that the oil embargo would end only if Japan withdrew from Indochina and made peace with the Chinese. They decided to seize the Philippines and to attack Pearl Harbor. While the Japanese prepared for war, negotiations with the Americans continued, but neither side would back down.
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| Pearl Harbor. |